Brand & Marketing Consulting

Louws: The reason brands you know are still around today.

For 3+ decades, Louws has been retained by over 150 + Marketers to help them produce and act upon more strategic ideas and concepts for themselves and their customers. This has included some 150,000 students in 26 Countries and 80 cities in North and South America.

There is no other training company that comes close to the kind of depth Louws uses to accomplish its single-minded objective for its clients:

Take strategic counsel and solutions through to their natural conclusion—improved corporate performance

This consulting addresses the most senior level of an organization responsible for the branding and marketing of the corporation. Concentration is given to:

Reviewing existing brand strategy, architecture, positioning and marketing direction, including elements such as advertising, promotions, social and digital impacts and public relations.

Developing a complete brand architecture to meet both short and long term business objectives.

Providing a marketing discipline and approach and developing or re-developing a complete marketing plan with implementation activities.

Getting buy in at all constituencies including marketing partners, franchisees, all levels of company personnel and external special interest groups.

The Outcome

Identifying and agreeing to the actionable principles and ingredients necessary to realizing the vision, direction, viability, and competitive growth of the organization.

Branding, Competitive Positioning and New Product development are some of the specific ingredients.

Results Achieved

“Quizno’s hired Louws to be a part of our Branding Dream Team. The team’s mission was to fully investigate our brand from who we are to how we do it……..Toni’s contributions to this process were invaluable. From the outset, he provided leadership and insights on our brand drawn from years of experience against multiple categories. He seamlessly participated in the process as if he had worked with our company for years…….”

Some time later, he also led a working strategy session with the client and agency which focused our marketing on the Sundowner and Hobby Farmer. Louws also led a dealer input session which enabled us to expand on Mahindra’s superior performance positioning. This on-target positioning helped Mahindra exceed their 10-year sales goal.”

….Alice Michalec, GM, Rives Carlberg

“We came with 18 brand positionings that had taken our agency over 18 months to develop and we still had no single-minded proposition – it took just 1 day to arrive at the single position 7-11 needed that resonated with a real personality the whole organization could stand behind.”

….Doug (CMO) – 7-11

The Louws’ Difference

Accountability to Outcome.

Since the 70’s, Louws has accumulated marketing experience from a vast array of industries on both the marketing services and corporate side of the business.

With this unique perspective, unmatched by few of our peers, Louws only accepts assignments where it is actively involved in the execution of its counsel, directives and recommendations.

Louws is not just in the business of apportioning advice. We help with finding the solution – then acting on it!

Louws’ approach to developing a brand’s architecture is unique only in that it cuts through the marketing gobbledygook and leads us right to the 5 most important components, which once identified, result in a brand description that the organization, as a whole, can follow and more importantly live.

1) First, why is it even called architecture?

By definition, architecture is:

♦ A fundamental underlying design

♦ An orderly arrangement of parts; structure: the architecture of the federal bureaucracy; the architecture of a novel.

As with a novel, it’s the underlying design that makes the story come alive – and if this is sound and collectively relevant to the business goals of an organization – may competitors beware and investors rejoice.

2) Second, the whole concept of Branding has been so abused that its inference usually brings tears to even the most stoic and seasoned marketing veteran.

Branding by definition again is nothing more than:

“An identifying mark or label on products or services that shows ownership”

This according to Webster, not us.

The Apple brand is simply: And the Nike brand is known by the swoosh.

A brand is a noun. Nothing could be simpler.

But then it gets complicated.

It’s used as a verb: “Let’s brand it more”.

As an adjective: “Their product line is more brandable than ours”.

And so we have now embarked upon re-inventing the English language and one wonders why anything to do with branding is so complicated.

Louws does not participate in, nor condone “new age” definitions.

Good old fashioned English and proven process applied to contemporary situations works just fine – every time.

Starbucks, Nike, Southwest Airlines, Intel, Coke, McDonald’s and even pure business-to-business plays like Pricewaterhousecoopers and First Boston are prime examples of those who have not bought into this new age nonsense.

Louws’ Brand Architecture process addresses the core 6 ingredients of a brand that, once identified and clarified, allow for a company to a) find it’s voice, b) communicate and operate with one voice, and c) operate in a common direction.

These 6 components are:

1. Brand features

2. Brand icons

3. Brand position

4. Brand personality

5. Brand values

These are then summarized, the 6th component, by a single statement of Brand Essence.

How the outcome is achieved

There are 7 phases. Each phase has a specific deliverable as indicated. Not all phases are needed in every case. Execution of the exact phases will be established ahead of time.

Phase 7: – Implementation: ensuring the new direction and plan is implemented.

To whom is this process best suited?

This process is best used for companies that either have a specific and incorrigible challenge, depressing either a brand’s value or its asset base – or – for companies that are on the fast track to excellence and need guidance, direction and stability.

Short Track

There are times that a short track approach can be utilized on specific branded products or services.

Compensation

There is a combination of fee and performance.

The fee is levied against all consultation, research and reporting.

A Performance bonus onus is levied against predetermined goals achieved against developed strategic brand architecture(s) and marketing plan(s).

Next Steps:

If what you have read so far is consistent with what you are looking for from a Brand and Marketing training and consulting firm, please consider giving Louws an opportunity to make good on what we promise to deliver.